
History-dependent motility of active droplets
Q. Le*, K. Kim*, B. Khaer, L. D. Zarzar #, in preparation
Abstract: Coming soon!
Kueyoung is a senior at Penn State studying Chemistry with a minor in Mathematics. Through his interdisciplinary research projects ranging from elucidating how surfactants impact wetted oil droplets to employing DNA origami to investigate photosynthetic energy transport, he has had the opportunity to join diverse scientific communities across the world, including at the University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley, the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, and MIT. He has authored two first-author publications and received multiple awards for his work at local and national conferences. In his future endeavors pursuing a PhD in Chemistry and a research career as a professor, he is determined to apply his collaborative mindset and ceaseless curiosity to tackle problems in sustainability at the intersection of chemistry, physics, and biology.
Outside of the lab, Kueyoung organizes science outreach for local K12 students and serves as the President of the Eberly College of Science’s student ambassador organization. In his free time, you can find Kueyoung lumbering through his (admittedly daunting) stack of "to be read" literary fiction, lifting heavy objects for fun in the gym, and agonizing over his coffee-brewing technique.
Interests: Materials, Sustainability, Physical Chemistry, Physical Biology
Email: [email protected]
History-dependent motility of active droplets
Q. Le*, K. Kim*, B. Khaer, L. D. Zarzar #, in preparation
Abstract: Coming soon!
Chemical programming of solubilizing, non-equilibrium active droplets
K. Kim, R. Balaj, L. D. Zarzar #, Accounts of Chemical Research
Abstract: The multifunctionality and resilience of living systems has
inspired an explosion of interest in creating materials with life-like properties.
Just as life persists out-of-equilibrium, we too should try to design materials
that are thermodynamically unstable but can be harnessed to achieve
desirable, adaptive behaviors...
Liquid-liquid surfactant partitioning drives dewetting of oil from hydrophobic surfaces
K. Kim*, W. Xue*, L. D. Zarzar #, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science
Abstract: Sessile droplets solubilizing in surfactant solution are frequently encountered in practice, but the
factors governing their non-equilibrium dynamics are not well understood. Here, we investigate mechanisms by
which solubilizing, sessile oil droplets in aqueous surfactant solution dewet from hydrophobic substrates and
spread on hydrophilic substrates...
* equal contribution, # corresponding author
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